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Category: Photos
Autumn in Wang
I took these photos over the last few months and have only just gotten around to sharing them with you. I love love LOVE Autumn in Victoria.
The only downside to Autumn, is that it’s closely followed by Winter. And Winter in Mt Beauty?? Well, it’s going to be interesting…
Hubs’ birthday cake (one of them anyway!)
I don’t have a lot of spare time at the moment, so I’ll just give you a quick run-down on the cake. I wanted to do another layer cake, but didn’t want to have to spend the whole day making it, so I made 2 cakes – one vanilla cake (double the recipe) and a chocolate cake (a Green’s Choc Mud Cake with an extra block of chocolate thrown in for good measure.)
I then divided the vanilla cake up into 4 equal (ish) amounts and coloured them. And then I put big blobs of the cake mixture into the cake pan. (I used a brownie tray for this cake.)
I then attempted to smooth the top down. Rainbow Paddlepop anyone??
Once it was baked and cooled, I put it in the fridge overnight for 2 reasons. 1. I was tired and wanted to go to bed. 2. Cakes are much easier to work with (icing etc) when they are cold. So the next day I got it out of the fridge and cut it into 2 layers. The colours were lovely!
Next time I must remember to give the tray a good bash before baking the cake, to get rid of the air bubbles! I then trimmed all three cakes/layers so they had square corners and straight edges. Then I iced in between each layer with the vanilla bean icing from the vanilla cake recipe.
I then iced the outside with the same yellow frosting.
I knew I wanted to put the ganache on top again, but wasn’t sure how. I looked outside at the crappy weather and then it hit me: Drizzle!! HA HA HA!!!
I was very happy with the overall effect. And the taste? Well I’ll let you make one for yourself and you can decide. But here’s a hint…
Yum yum yum yum yum yum!!!
Happy 30th Birthday Hubs continued
After Hubs’ exam on Friday, all the med students in his year based at Wang (15) headed back to one of the students’ houses to be greeted with this:
It was officially time to party! We had a nice afternoon with yummy treats, cold beers, and of course, tasty tasty caaaaaake!
(More info on the cake to come)
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Huhhhhhhbssssss,
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu!
(Oh okay. Here’s a sneaky peek!)
And of course, being Friday, Hubs and Chance had their best Friday shirts on!
And so continues Hubs’ birthday month!
Introducing…
Jett Alexander
My dear cousin Amy and her wonderful Hubs Andrew had a beautiful baby boy on the 16th of June. Everyone is doing well and I got to have some lovely new baby cuddles. Congratulations guys, and I look forward to the day that Jett and Chance get to play together! I’m sure they’ll be great friends.
Happy ??th Birthday Hubs
Since Hubs is celebrating a bit of a milestone this year, we’re having a birthday month! It started on his actual birthday, last Thursday (the 23rd of June, for those playing at home.) I had planned to give him a big sleep in, brekky in bed, and present opening to follow. What actually happened, is that Hubs was the one who gave me a sleep in! That’s just the kind of Hubs I have. An awesome one. Once I got up and showered, I did make him brekky – bagels with cream cheese and we ate together on the couch. Then it was time for prezzies! Unfortunately, it was also time for Chanbe’s nap time. So once he was settled, the opening commenced!
He received some lovely cards from family and friends in Brizzie, as well as a package from his Mum that took him for a lovely trip down memory lane. He also received…
… as well as…
… and then there was this!
Hubs had asked me a month or 2 ago if I could make him a jacket. The thing is, he thinks I’m much more clever on the ol’ sewing machine than I actually am, so I enlisted the help of my dear “Aunty” Heather (who is one of my Mum’s besties, as well as my brother’s Godmother) who is a wizz on the sewing machine, and after running all around Brisbane to find the right material, Aunty Heather did an amazing job turning Hubs’ ideas into reality!
Rather dashing if you ask me! After a leisurely morning lazing around home, we popped down to our favourite coffee shop for a celebratory coffee and cake.
We then had a lovely evening at home, as Hubs had an exam the next morning that he had to prepare for. And I had a party to prepare for! More details to come!
Starting young
The Cake
Step one: find an awesome vanilla cake recipe
Step two: mix ingredients and choose colours
Step three: bake first layer, which happens to be blue
Step four: break layer when getting it out of pan
Step five: be sad about this
Step six: be happy about your new hair cut and colour! (where applicable)
Step seven: watch as the other layers come out wonderfully!
Step eight: make your ganache and frosting, and colour to your heart’s desire!
Step nine: start layering
Step ten: keep layering!
Step eleven: frost the outside of the cake (be generous with this “layer” of frosting)
Step twelve: whack the ganache on top.
Step thirteen: take a cute photo of your son.
Step fourteen: decorate your cake as desired. Don’t tell your friends, or whomever you’re eating the cake with, what’s inside, and enjoy their oooohs and aaaahs!
Yum yum yum yum YUM!!
Any questions? I’ll be happy to help if I can. (I got most of my help from the internet.)
Also, there’s 14 steps because I can’t stop on 13. And I noticed I have 13 followers on my blog. This is not sitting well with me. Maybe someone could help me out? 🙂
Happy 500 posts Wifey
What better way to celebrate, than with delicious vanilla bean cake!
Delicious vanilla bean cake with vanilla frosting, topped with ganache!
Delicious vanilla bean layer cake with vanilla frosting, topped with ganache!
Does it get any better than this? Happy posting to meeeeeeeee!
Music gets the best of me
(I love that Sophie Ellis-Bextor song)
If (when) you come to visit us, you’ll notice a few things: 1. There will often be the smell of freshly-baked goods in the air; 2. I will probably apologise for the chaotic mess that will greet you; and 3. There will be music playing. Nothing loud or fancy, just something playing in the background to add a little ambiance and atmosphere to the place.
Why am I talking about this? Besides the fact that I needed a 499th post (the next one’s the big one!) we have been to a couple of social events lately that have been okay but really could have benefited from some background music. Music is the ultimate ice breaker and helps to lighten any mood in any situation. This is definitely one of those things that Hubs and I can’t understand why other people don’t think the same way as us.
I’ve even been at people’s houses and suggested “Hey do you want to put a CD on?” Is that rude? I’m not saying that these events have been awkward or boring, I’m simply saying having music on as well can make a social situation even better. Like adding a spoonful of milo to your coffee, or putting butter on your corn. It just adds that little something that makes it extra good.
That’s pretty much all I have to say about that. And now, to keep you excited, here’s a fun video we took of Chanbe on Saturday night (oh yeah, we’re party animals) feeding himself. And my voice is in there as usual, laughing my guts up. Oh, and see if you can pick the song/band playing in the background!
Enjoy! And I’ll see you soon at number 500!